Sowetan (March 23 2022), “UKZN graduation an African celebration against British bondage" by Dr Pedro Mzileni refers. In his piece, Mizileni makes a case for the celebration of the colourful University of KwaZulu-Natal graduation ceremony as an instant of decolonisation.

He correctly criticises those who have issue with these jamborees bedecked with indlamu and heart-warming ululation. However, the good doctor overstates his case and unwittingly provides an alibi to the same colonial system he decries.

All oppression caters for moments of letting off steam by the oppressed. In this permitted space the oppressed is allowed to perform symbolic acts of affirmation or even enact acts of resistance. After these performances, life goes back to normal as the colonial reality perpetuates itself. These acts of symbolic cultural affirmation may irritate the hardcore racists for just a day.

The permitted acts of symbolic resistance are reduced to annual amusement episodes. However, at a deeper level they assist to maintain the racist status quo  at our universities. As a black student you endure the racist erasure of your humanity all your study life and once you graduate you can dance and ululate on your way out.

Decolonisation is a much more serious business than occasional permitted symbolic acts. True decolonisation removes from the frame the settler as Fanon teaches us. What’s patent is that there can be no decolonised university in a colonial society. The academy is the super structure of a social order. It reflects its colonial base.

Andile Mngxitama,  BLF president